Statewide enrollment on steady climb

The Colorado Department of Education announced Friday the total student count for the current 2011-2012 school year showing an increase of 10,949 students over last year.

There are now 854,265 public school students in Colorado — a 1.3 percent increase — the same growth rate as seen a year ago. The steady growth is a drop from the largest climb in recent history during the 2008-2009 school year when Colorado public schools enrolled 2 percent more students than in 2007-2008.

The Charter School Institute — with a portfolio of 22 charter schools, many online — saw the largest percentage increase, gaining 2,525 students for a total of 10,506. The growth represents a 31.64 percent increase, and marks the first time the enrollment at the institue’s schools goes above 10,000 students.

The current enrollment reflects a 6.4 percent increase from 2010-2011, when there were 15,249 students in online programs. That fast growth has been steady since about 2002-2003, when there were 1,987 students in online programs making up .26 percent of the state’s students.

Not all school districts logged gains however, and some took hard hits, including Agate School District 300 who was left this year with 9 students, down from 33 last year.
Their decrease of 72.7 percent of the population was the largest percentage drop recorded in the state, and is due the closure of Agate Junior-Senior High School.

Julesburg School District RE-1 also took a hard hit with had a decrease of half of its student population.

An online high school, Insight School of Colorado at Julesburg was to blame for the majority of the district’s drop of 899 students — or 50.3 percent.

Among ethnic groups, the largest changes in numbers were for students who identified as two or more races, increasing by 10.6 percent from 23,565 students in 2010 to 26,073 students in 2011.

Students identified as Asian had the second largest increase of 8.3 percent from 24,493 students in 2010 to 26,522 students in 2011. Hispanic students were just behind that with a 2.4 percent increase over last year.

The largest 15 districts and their current student enrollment are:
Jeffco Public Schools 85,751 students
Denver Public Schools 80,890
Douglas County Schools 63,114
Cherry Creek Schools 52,589
Adams 12 Five Star Schools 42,990
Aurora Public Schools 39,969
Boulder Valley School District 29,780
Colorado Springs School District 11 29,509
St. Vrain Valley School District 28,109
Poudre School District 27,510
Academy School District 20 23,657
Mesa County Valley School District 51 21,917
Greeley-Evans School District 6 19,840
Pueblo City Schools 17,877
Thompson School District RE-J 15,655

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